A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "The UN employs about 85,000 military and civilian personnel in peacekeeping operations in 16 countries. The United States has provided about $1 billion annually to support UN peacekeeping operations. In addition, the United States has led and participated in many such operations. UN reports and congressional hearings have raised concerns about accountability for UN peacekeeping operations and the need for reforms. We were asked to provide information relating to the cost and relative strengths of UN and U.S. peacekeeping. In particular, we have (1) compared the cost of the ongoing UN Stabilization Mission in Haiti with the cost that the United States would have incurred had an operation been deemed in the U.S. national interest and undertaken without UN involvement; (2) analyzed factors that could materially affect the estimated costs of a U.S. operation; and (3) identified the strengths of the United States and the UN for leading the operation. We developed our cost estimate of a U.S.-led operation using cost models from the Departments of Defense and State. The estimate is based on various military assumptions, such as the use of primarily active duty troops. …

A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "In the past 3 years, Education awarded an average of $4.8 billion annually in discretionary grants through its competitive awards process and through consideration of unsolicited proposals. GAO assessed Education's policies and procedures for both competitive awards and unsolicited proposals awarded by its Office of Innovation and Improvement in 2003 and 2004 and determined whether it followed them in awarding grants in those years. GAO also reviewed Education's grant award decisions for several 2001 and 2002 grants to determine whether the department followed its own policies."

A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "The Architect of the Capitol (AOC) is responsible for the maintenance, renovation, and new construction of the Capitol Hill complex, which comprises more than three dozen facilities and consists of nine jurisdictions, such as the U.S. Capitol and the Senate and House Office Buildings. In 2003, at the request of Congress, GAO issued a management review of AOC that contained recommendations in seven areas to help AOC become more strategic and accountable. GAO reported on AOC's progress in implementing those recommendations in January and August 2004. In 2005 and 2006, GAO briefed Congress on AOC's recent progress in implementing GAO's recommendations and on issues related to AOC's project and facilities management. This report summarizes GAO's (1) assessment of AOC's progress in implementing previous GAO recommendations and in improving project and facilities management and (2) delineation of remaining management challenges."

A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "The Internal Revenue Service's (IRS) Business Systems Modernization (BSM) program is a multibillion-dollar, high-risk, highly complex effort that involves the development and delivery of a number of modernized information systems intended to replace the agency's aging business and tax processing systems. As required by law, IRS submitted its fiscal year 2006 expenditure plan, in October 2005, to congressional appropriations committees, requesting $199 million from the BSM account. GAO's objectives in reviewing the plan were to (1) determine whether it satisfied the conditions specified in the law and (2) provide any other observations about the plan and IRS's BSM program."

Correspondence issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "The Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC)--intended to provide aid to developing countries that have demonstrated a commitment to ruling justly, encouraging economic freedom, and investing in people--has received appropriations for fiscal years (FY) 2004-06 totaling more than $4.2 billion. About $3.8 billion of this amount has been set aside for compact assistance. As of January 2006, MCC had signed or approved eight compacts obligating about $1.5 billion, leaving an unobligated balance of about $2.3 billion. To assist in this year's budget deliberations, this letter provides a range of estimates under two scenarios of how quickly MCC could obligate this balance and three possible levels of FY 2007 appropriations at the current pace of compact award. The President has requested an additional $3 billion for MCC for FY 2007. To address this objective, we analyzed MCC's FY 2005 and 2006 budget presentations and other corporation records. We selected two illustrative scenarios for future MCC obligations: (1) a "higher cost" scenario in which the average size of future compacts is consistent with MCC projections and (2) a "lower cost" scenario in which future compacts are consistent with the average compact size …

The complexes [Ce(tmtaa)2], [Ce(tmtaa)(tmtaaH)]and[Ce2(tmtaa)3(thf)2]are obtained from Ce[N(SiMe3)2]3 and tmtaaH2, themacrocyclic ligand 6,8,15,17-tetramethyldibenzotetraaza[14]-annulene,depending on the stoichiometry, solvent and temperature. The crystalstructure of Ce(tmtaa)2 is isostructural with Zr(tmtaa)2, howevermagnetic susceptibility measurements in the range 5-300 K show thatCe(tmtaa)2 is not diamagnetic, but is a temperature-independentparamagnet (TIP), similar to Ce(cot)2, cerocene.

Providing the essential energy and water systems to support human needs while understanding and addressing their environmental consequences is a watershed problem for the 21st century. The LLNL Earth System Science and Engineering Program seeks to provide the scientific understanding and technological expertise to help provide solutions at both global and regional scales. Our work is highly collaborative with universities, laboratories and industrial partners across the world and involves observational data, laboratory experiments, and numerical simulations. The energy systems we have enjoyed for the last 100 years have resulted in the advanced standard of living in the developed world and a major emerging problem with climate change. Now we face a simultaneous realization that our reliance on fossil fuels is a source of conflict and economic disruption as well as causing potentially abrupt, even catastrophic global climate change. The climate and energy problem is perhaps the greatest challenge ever faced by mankind. Fossil fuel remains the least expensive and most available source of energy and the basis of our economy. The use of fossil fuels, especially over the last 100 years has led to a 30% increase in CO{sub 2} in the atmosphere. The problem is growing. The population of …

The Natural Barriers Thrust supports scientific studies of the natural system at the proposed repository site of Yucca Mountain. It stresses the realistic representation of the natural system with respect to processes and parameters, by means of laboratory, field, and modeling studies. It has the objectives to demonstrate that the natural barriers can make large contributions to repository performance, supporting the multiple-barrier concept for geological disposal of high-level radioactive waste; and to reduce the overall cost of repository development by elimination of unnecessary engineered components, given the demonstrated natural barriers performance. In this overview we enumerate the research projects within the Natural Barriers Thrust grouped under five elements: (1) Drift Seepage, (2) In-drift Environment, (3) Drift Shadow, (4) Unsaturated Zone Flow and Transport, and (5) Saturated Zone Flow and Transport. The long-term strategic plan of the Natural Barriers Thrust and some key results are also briefly described.

Tribological coatings must provide lubrication for moving components of the control drive mechanism for a space reactor and prevent seizing due to friction or diffusion welding to provide highly reliable and precise control of reflector position over the mission lifetime. Several coatings were evaluated based on tribological performance at elevated temperatures and in ultrahigh vacuum environments. Candidates with proven performance in the anticipated environment are limited primarily to disulfide materials. Irradiation data for these coatings is nonexistent. Compatibility issues between coating materials and structural components may require the use of barrier layers between the solid lubricant and structural components to prevent deleterious interactions. It would be advisable to consider possible lubricant interactions prior to down-selection of structural materials. A battery of tests was proposed to provide the necessary data for eventual solid lubricant/coating selection.

Technologically important nanomaterials come in all shapes and sizes. They can range from small molecules to complex composites and mixtures. Depending upon the spatial dimensions of the system and properties under investigation computer modeling of such materials can range from equilibrium and nonequilibrium Quantum Mechanics, to force-field-based Molecular Mechanics and kinetic Monte Carlo, to Mesoscale simulation of evolving morphology, to Finite-Element computation of physical properties. This brief review illustrates some of the above modeling techniques through a number of recent applications with carbon nanotubes: nano electromechanical sensors (NEMS), chemical sensors, metal-nanotube contacts, and polymer-nanotube composites.

The Energy Sciences Network (ESnet) is the primary providerof network connectivity for the US Department of Energy Office ofScience, the single largest supporter of basic research in the physicalsciences in the United States. In support of the Office of Scienceprograms, ESnet regularly updates and refreshes its understanding of thenetworking requirements of the instruments, facilities and scientiststhat it serves. This focus has helped ESnet to be a highly successfulenabler of scientific discovery for over 20 years. In August, 2002 theDOE Office of Science organized a workshop to characterize the networkingrequirements for Office of Science programs. Networking and middlewarerequirements were solicited from a representative group of scienceprograms. The workshop was summarized in two documents the workshop finalreport and a set of appendixes. This document updates the networkingrequirements for ESnet as put forward by the science programs listed inthe 2002 workshop report. In addition, three new programs have beenadded. Theinformation was gathered through interviews with knowledgeablescientists in each particular program or field.

Free weekly newspaper that includes business and classified advertising.

Daily student newspaper from the University of North Texas in Denton, Texas that includes local, state and campus news along with advertising.

Document issued by the Office of the Attorney General of Texas in Austin, Texas, providing an interpretation of Texas law. It provides the opinion of the Texas Attorney General, Greg Abbott, regarding a legal question submitted for clarification; Whether the commission on State Emergency Communication or the Comptroller of Public Accounts has primary jurisdiction to determine in the context of a claim for the refund Whether the 9-1-1 emergency service fee imposed on wireless telecommunication connections by Texas Health and Safety Code Section 771.0711(a) is applicable to a service provider's specific service (RQ-0370-GA).

Student lets the Fort Worth Independent School District know his views on school uniforms by filling out a questionnaire.

A student fills out a questionnaire concerning school uniforms in the Fort Worth Independent School District.

Medicaid is a joint federal-state entitlement program that pays for medical services on behalf of certain groups of low-income persons. It is the third largest social program in the federal budget, exceeded only by Social Security and Medicare and is typically the second largest spending item for states. This report discusses prescription drug policies under the program.

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This report explains what a select committee is in the House of Representatives, and how it is used. The report explains that the recent usage of the select committee has been for fragmented or largely overlapping areas of jurisdiction for multiple committees.

This report summarizes the subsidies that are available for about 25 agricultural commodities representing about one-third of gross farm sales.

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Present-day nonlinear microstability codes are able to compute the saturated fluctuations of a turbulent fluid versus space and time, whether the fluid be liquid, gas, or plasma. They are therefore able to determine turbulence-induced fluid (or particle) and energy fluxes. These codes, however, must be tested against experimental data, not only with respect to transport, but also characteristics of the fluctuations. The latter is challenging because of limitations in the diagnostics (e.g., finite spatial resolution) and the fact that the diagnostics typically do not measure exactly the quantities the codes compute. In this work, we present a system based on IDL{reg_sign} analysis and visualization software in which user-supplied ''diagnostic filters'' are applied to the code outputs to generate simulated diagnostic signals. The same analysis techniques as applied to the measurements, e.g., digital time-series analysis, may then be applied to the synthesized signals. Their statistical properties, such as rms fluctuation level, mean wave numbers, phase and group velocities, correlation lengths and times, and in some cases full S(k,{omega}) spectra can then be compared directly to those of the measurements.

The Energy and Environment Directorate (E& ED) is one of 13 directorates at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL), which is operated by the University of California (UC) for the U.S. Department of Energy's National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA). We operate in the context of a national security laboratory and focus on meeting major national needs, especially from a long-term perspective. In the LLNL context, E&ED is a hybrid ''program'' and ''discipline'' directorate, combining the program development responsibilities in the national energy and environment arenas to the benefit of the entire Laboratory and also serving as the Laboratory's science base of atmospheric, earth, environmental, and energy science. This Status Report is part of the annual evaluation process required by the Department of Energy (DOE) as part of its contract with UC. The annual review typically will focus on about one third of the activities and programs of a directorate, so that the entire organization is evaluated over a three-year window. This year's review is focused on the basic science foundations for the directorate and two major program areas in the directorate, with an update from a third program. The programs for review are: (1) Earth System Science and Engineering; (2) Nuclear …

Since the end of the cold war, the need for operating weapons production facilities has faded. Criticality Safety Limits and controls supporting production modes in these facilities became outdated and furthermore lacked the procedure based rigor dictated by present day requirements. In the past, in many instances, the formalism of present day criticality safety evaluations was not applied. Some of the safety evaluations amounted to a paragraph in a notebook with no safety basis and questionable arguments with respect to double contingency criteria. When material stabilization, clean out, and deactivation activities commenced, large numbers of these older criticality safety evaluations were uncovered with limits and controls backed up by tenuous arguments. A dilemma developed: on the one hand, cleanup activities were placed on very aggressive schedules; on the other hand, a highly structured approach to limits development was required and applied to the cleanup operations. Some creative approaches were needed to cope with the limits development process.